This invention relates to improvements in or relating to horseshoes. In a prior patent application No. 2101463A, to which reference is directed, the present applicant discloses a horseshoe comprising a toe portion and two heel segments separate and distinct from the toe portion but secured fast thereto. The specification is addressed to the provision of a horseshoe formed from plastics material as an alternative to the traditional steel shoe which for fitting requires the services of a blacksmith to shape the shoe and has the additional disadvantages set out in that specification. In the embodiments of UK specification No. 2101463A the horseshoe comprises five segments, two of which differ from the remainder in not being adapted for nailing. These two segments are arranged in use, to cover that region of the heel of a horses foot to which the shoe is affixed without being nailed thereto. Nailing of a horseshoe in this region of the foot is to be avoided since in this region the dead horny wall of the foot is particularly weak and thin so that nails here greatly increase the risk of lameness, both due to the possibility of the wall splitting and also nails inadvertently entering the sensitive laminea. This prior shoe, when assembled from a plurality of segment is nailed to the horses foot and the segments are secured fast to one another in order that the composite shoe is relatively rigid and in this way each nail is supported by all others as in the steel shoe. A particular feature of this known shoe is that from a small range of individual segments a very large range of shoes can be formed to suit almost all horses.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a further improvement by means of which the number of segments forming the stock from which segments are selected to form a horseshoe for a particular horse can be greatly reduced whilst still maintaining the advantages of the earlier proposal.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide, in the preferred embodiments, a construction of segment which exhibits still further advantages in performance.